Bottle closure



0. KARCHER June 26, 1934.

BOTTLE CLOSURE Filed March 14, 1934 gmwm Ofla Karc/wr Patented June 26,1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFEE 6 Claims.

The invention relates to a closure for bottles and more especially to aclosure including a cap arranged to open as the bottle is tilted to aposition for pouring the liquid contents therefrom, and which will closewhen the bottle is returned to an upright position.

An object of the improvement is to provide a closure of the kindreferred to including a disk top or cap adapted to fit over the end ofthe bottle neck and having a weighted stem fixed thereto and suspendedwithin the neck of the bottle, a spring clip surrounding said stem andbeing inserted into the bottle neck, whereby the closure may be quicklyand easily attached to or removed from a bottle.

Another object is to provide such a bottle closure in which the weightedstem is suspended within said spring clip in the manner of a pendulumwhereby it may swing outward against the side of the bottle neck, as thebottle is tilted, moving the cap away from the end of the neck to permitthe liquid contents of the bottle to pour therefrom.

A further object of the improvement is to provide a bottle closure ofthe character referred to in which a pad of soft rubber or the like isprovided upon the underside of the cap to substantially seal the bottlewhen in upright position.

A still further object is to provide a novel, one-piece spring clipsurrounding the stem of the closure and adapted to be inserted into theend portion of the bottle neck in order to attach the closure thereto.

Still another object is to provide such a spring clip with a centralsubstantially circular portion surrounding the stem and of considerablylarger diameter than the enclosed portion of the stem, a shoulder beingformed upon the stem at a point spaced below said spring clip, forming astop to prevent the closure from becoming detached from the bottle whenthe same is tilted.

The above objects, together with others which will be apparent from thedrawing and following description, or which may later be pointed out,may be attained by constructing the improved bottle closure in themanner illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is alongitudinal sectional view of the neck of a bottle in upright positionshowing the improved closure attached thereto in closed position;

Fig. 2, a similar view showing the bottle neck tilted, the closure beingshown in the open position it automatically assumes when the bottle isthus tilted;

Fig. 3, a transverse section through the neck of the bottle, the springclip and the stem of the closure, taken as on the line 33, Fig. 1;

Fig. 4, a detached perspective view of the closure cap or disk withweighted stem; and

Fig. 5, a detached perspective view of the improved spring clip.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawing.

The neck portion of a bottle is indicated generally at 10 and may be ofany usual design such as provided upon bottles for containing liquor andthe like, having the threaded end portion 11 for receiving the usualscrew cap which is dispensed with when the improved bottle closure isused.

The closure cap or disk is shown at 12, and may be of metal, glass orother suitable material. This cap is preferably of slightly greaterdiameter than the end portion of the bottle neck, and is provided on itsunderside with a pad of soft rubber or the like shown at 13 and adaptedto fit upon and substantially seal the upper open end of the bottle neckwhen in upright position as shown in Fig. 1.

The stem 14 is fixed to the underside of the cap and may be formedintegrally therewith as illustrated. This stem depends from the centerof the cap and is preferably of such proportions as to provide asubstantial Weight to hold the cap firmly upon the neck of the bottlewhen in upright position. For this purpose the lower portion of the stemmay be of increased diameter as indicated at 15.

The upper portion of the stem is preferably tapered downward from thepoint of juncture with the cap to the annular shoulder 16, as indicatedat 17.

For the purpose of quickly and easily attaching the closure to the neckof a bottle in such a manner that it will normally close the bottle neckwhen the bottle is in upright position and will swing like a pendulum toopen position when the bottle is tilted to pour the contents therefrom,a spring clip generally designated by the numeral 18 is associated withthe closure cap and stem above described, and is arranged to be fittedwithin the upper end of the bottle neck.

This spring clip is preferably formed of a strip of flat spring metal asshown and comprises the central open ring portion 19 arranged tosurround the tapered upper portion 17 of the stem above and normallyspaced from the shoulder 16 thereof.

As will be seen in the drawing, this open ring portion of the springclip is of greater diameter than the portion 17 of the stem which itsurrounds but of less diameter than the shoulder 16, whereby the stem isfree to oscillate within said open ring and is restrained from becomingentirely disengaged therefrom when the bottle is tilted to position topour the contents therefrom.

The spring clip at each side of the opening 20 of the central open ringportion 19 thereof is then bent as at 21 and then curved backward as at22, forming an outer open spring ring of considerably greater diameterthan the inner ring portion 19 and adapted to be inserted into the upperend portion of a bottle neck, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, whereit is frictionally held in position.

When it is desired to attach the closure to the neck of a bottle, thereduced, tapered portion of the stem is inserted laterally through theopening 20 into the central or inner open ring portion 19 of the springclip. With the spring clip thus surrounding the stem above the shoulder16, the lower end portion of the stem is inserted longitudinally intothe end of the bottle neck and the outer split ring portion 22 of thespring clip is compressed between the thumb and fingers and forced downinto the neck of the bottle.

As the spring clip is released from the compressing pressure of thethumb and fingers it will spring outward against the inside of thebottle neck, frictionally retaining itself in the position shown inFigs. 1 to 3 inclusive.

When the bottle is placed in upright position, as in Fig. 1, the cap 12will rest squarely upon the upper open end of the bottle neck, therubber pad 13 upon the underside thereof contacting with the mouth ofthe bottle and substantially sealing the same, while the stem 14 willhang suspended through the spring clip and within the neck of the bottleas shown in said figure.

When the bottle is tilted to pour the contents therefrom, the stem willswing within the neck and rest against the lower side thereof, as shownin Fig. 2, the cap 12 swinging away from the mouth of the bottle at thelower side, as shown in said figure, so that the liquid contents mayeasily pour from the bottle.

In this position it will be apparent that the annular shoulder 16 willprevent the stem from passing outward through the inner ring portion 19of the spring clip, thus preventing the closure device from becomingdetached from the bottle.

If it is desired to remove the closure from the bottle it is onlynecessary to grasp the edge of the cap 12 and pull outward away from thebottle, removing the cap and stem together with the spring clip as aunit.

I claim:

1. A bottle closure including a closure cap adapted to rest upon theopen end of a bottle neck, a stem fixed to said cap and adapted to besuspended within the bottle neck, and a spring clip surrounding saidstem and adapted to frictionally engage the inside of the bottle neck.

2. A bottle closure including a closure cap adapted to rest upon theopen end of a bottle neck, a stem fixed to said cap and adapted to besuspended within the bottle neck, a spring clip surrounding said stemand adapted to frictionally engage the inside of the neck neck, andmeans upon the stem for preventing it from becoming disengaged from thespring clip.

3. A bottle closure including a closure cap adapted to rest upon theopen end of a bottle neck, a stem fixed to said cap and adapted to besuspended within the bottle neck, a spring clip surrounding said stemand adapted to frictionally engage the inside of the bottle neck, and ashoulder upon the stem below the spring clip.

4. A bottle closure including a closure cap adapted to rest upon theopen end of a bottle neck, a stem fixed to said cap and adapted to besuspended within the bottle neck, a spring clip surrounding said stemand adapted to frictionally engage the inside of the bottle neck, and arubber pad upon the underside of said cap.

5. A bottle closure including a closure cap adapted to rest upon theopen end of a bottle neck, a stem fixed to said cap and adapted to besuspended within the bottle neck, and. a spring clip surrounding saidstem and adapted to frictionally engage the inside of the bottle neck,said spring clip comprising an inner ring portion and an outer splitspring ring portion.

6. A bottle closure including a closure cap adapted to rest upon theopen end of a bottle neck, a stem fixed to said cap and adapted to besuspended within the bottle neck, a shoulder upon said stem spaced belowsaid cap, and a spring ring including an inner ring portion surroundingthe stem above said shoulder and of greater diameter than the portion ofthe stem above the shoulder, and an outer split spring ring portionadapted to frictionally engage the inside of the bottle neck.

OTTO KARCHER.

